Charging apparatus for annealing-furnaces



E. E'. BROSIUS.

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING FURNACES.

APPLICATION man ma. 2, 1920.

' Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

s SHEETS-SHEET 1'.

E. E. BROSIUS. cHARGlNG APPARATUS Fon ANNEA-LING FuRNAcE's. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1920.

1 ,389,23'8. Patented Allg. 30, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. @MMQMQMQ E. E. BBOSIUS.

cHARGmG APPARAIus FOR ANNEALING FURNAGES.

APPLICATION FILD FEB. 2, 1920.

yPatented Aug. 30, 1921*.

SHEETS-SHEET s.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDG-AR E. ROSIUS, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA..

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING-FURNACES.

Y Specification of Letters Patent. Patented A110. 30, 1921.

l Application filed February 2, 1920. Serial No. 355,890.

T o all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known'that I, EDGAR E. nosius, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful lmprovementin Charging Apparatus for An# needing-Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which:-

AFigure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of one form of apparatus embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rake and its supporting and operating parts.V

Fig. 4f is a longitudinal section of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3. e Fig. `5 is a longitudinal section on a larger scale of a portion of such apparatus, and

Figs. 6v and 7 are respectively plan and side views showing a modification of a portion of the apparatus. j .y I

vMy invention has relation to charging apparatus for annealing furnaces; and more particularly to apparatus of this character for use in connection with pipe annealing furnaces. In this class of furnaces the articles to be annealed, usually pieces of tool steel, are placed in large pipes which act as the containers therefor during the annealing` operations. These pipes, with their charges, are introduced into the furnace where they lie side by side; and after a certain period of heat treatment, itis necessary to turn the pipes 180 in order to more 'thorough-ly equalize the heattreatment.

' My `invention is designed .to provide apparatus of simple, convenient and efficient character, by meanslof which `the loaded pipes may be charged into the` furnace, may be rotated within the furnace when necessary, and finally remo-ved'from'the furnace. V The invention provides means whereby theseoperations maybe accomplished with a minimum amount of hand labor,.and without necessitating exposureon the part of the operator tothe intense heat of the furnaces. The operation,as heretofore performed by hand labor, has been an arduous one owing to the necessity, especially in turning'the pipes,`of the men getting close tothe open doors of the highly heated furnaces.

My invention also provides means in connection with the charging apparatus for elevating the loaded pipes to the level of the charging doors of the furnace and also for lowering the pipes to the lioor level after the completion of the annealing.

The nature of my invention will be best understood by reference tothe accompanying drawings in which I have shown a preferred embodiment thereof and which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes can be made in the details of constructiomoperation and arrangement of the various parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates a rake adapted for introduction withinthe annealing furnace, and consisting of a transversely disposed bar having a plurality of projecting teeth or fingers 3 adapted for engagement with the pipes. VThe bar 2 is carried by a longitudinal rack bar 4; which extends through the tubular frame or housing 5, its rear end portion having an elongated screw thread 6, as best shown in Fig. 5. This threaded portion of the rack bar eX tends within a sleeve 7 to the rear end of which is secured a hand operating Wheel 8. In the opposite or inner end portion of the sleeve 7 is a bushing member 9 formed with an internal thread adapted to the thread of the bar 2 and acting as a nut therefor. The sleeve 7 kis rotatablyV mounted within the housing'fL on any suitable bearings, such as the ball-hearings shown at 10.

The apparatus just described is designed, when in' use, to be suspended from an over head carrier. This preferably consists of a. trolley k11 mounted on the'traveling crane Ybridge 12. The device is suspended at the point 13 by a chain 14 connected to the hook 15 of a pulley blo/(3h16 suspended from ther hoisting drum on the trolley. It also has a rear suspension chain 17 which is connected to an extension 18 of the trolley. 19 desig- Ynates a counterweight which is attached to the suspension member 2O to which the chain 17 is attached. This weight is shown as having a depending stop projection 21 adapted to cooperate with the fixed floor stops to be moved' into and out of engagement with a notch 2G (see Fig. 5) in the portion 5"L 22 and 23. 2/1 designates apawl pivoted to Vthe suspension member 2O at 25 and adapted s of the housing 5. The purpose of thispawl is normally to prevent any tendency of the housing to rotate when the hand wheel 8 is turned.

27 designates a ring member which is secured to the sleeve 7, and which is provided with a seat for a stud bolt 28 or `other similar device which may be turned to cause its inner end to engage with an opening 29 in the housing member 5a, for the purpose hereinafter described.

30 designates supports which form an elevating table for the pipes. rlhese supports are carried on the plungers of power cylinders 3l as shown in Figs. l and 2.

The operation is as follows:

The pipes to be charged are placed upon the table in the manner shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the table being raised to the level of the charging door of the annealing furnace 32 as shown in said ligure. The 'trolley 11 is then manipulated to cause the rake to be engaged successively with the pipes and roll them into the furnace. After the pipes have been in the furnace the proper length of time, the rake is introduced into the furnace in position to engage the first pipe which is then in the dotted line position indicated in 1. The suspending cable for` the block 1G is slightly lowered so as to tilt the rake into a. more effective position. T he hand wheel 8 is then actuated to pull the rake baclwardly sufficient to rotate the pipe 1800, or to the full line position indicated for the first pipe in Fig. 1. The operation is then repeated for the second pipe. TWhile these operations are going on, the stop member 21 is cooperating with the fixed floor stop 23 to prevent undue movement of the rake on its suspensions. The trolley is then manipulated to bring the parts in the full line positions shown in Fig. 1 in which the rake can be moved by the hand wheel to positions to successively engage and rotate the remaining pipes in the furnace.

.fit the conclusion of the annealing operations the rake is manipulated by means of the trolley to successively engage the pipes and roll them out ofthe furnace onto the table which may then be lowered. The annealed pipes are then removed, covered over and left to cool. A fresh charge of pipes is then placed on top of the cover and rolled into the furnace by the charging machine. Before this new charge is ready to come out of the furnace, the other pipes are cooled and removed.

ln some cases, as when the rake teeth beccme unduly bent, it may be necessary to slightly manipulate the rake in order to enable it to be introduced through the door of the furnace. If this occurs, the pawl 24 is thrown out of engagement and the stud bolt 28 turned to engage the aperture 29 in by the hand wheel;

the housing member 5a. In this manner the rack bar carrying the rake is locked to the housing, andthe entire device may be manipulated on the roller bearing suspensions The crane bridge 12 may be the usual overhead crane bridge employed in a mill of this character, the only change required being to provide the trolley with an extension of a suitable character to carry the suspension 17. During the intervals when the rake is not in use, the suspension chains 111 and 17 may be disconnected, leaving the overhead crane free for other uses about the mill. If the extension 18 is of rigid character, this might interfere with some of these other operations, since it would prevent the crane trolley from being moved to the extreme right hand end of the crane bridge. To overcome thisdifficulty, I may use the construction shown in Figs. 6 and 7 in which such extension is shown as consisting of two members 33 and 34 connected by the hinge or pivot pin 35. The member 33 extends beyond the 'pivot pin 35 and engages the member 34 to prevent any further ldownward movement ofsaid members beyond the position shown in Fig. 7. Vhen, however, the trolley is run to a point suificiently near the right hand end of the bridge 12 te cause the wheel 36 onsaid extension to engage the usual stop 37, the members 33 and 34 will readily buckle upwardly on the pivot 35, and thus permit the crane' to be run up near this end of the bridge. l

The advantages of my invention will bc understood by those familiar with the present methods of charging annealing furnaces, since it reduces hand labor to a minimum; renders unnecessary exposure of the workmen to the heat of the furnaces; Vand provides simple, convenient and effective vmeans for handling and manipulating loaded pipes.

I claim: i

1. The combination with a pipe-annealing furnace having a charging opening and a hearth extending from said opening and forming a roll-Way for the pipes, of a combined charging, manipulating and discharging device comprising a rake movable through said opening and over said roll-way, amovable overhead support from which the said device is flexibly suspended, and 4stop means for limiting the movement of said device on its suspension in different positions of the overhead support, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a pipe-annealing furnace having a charging opening and a hearth extending from said opening and forming a roll-way for the. pipes, and a loading and unloading table in front of said opening and having means for'raising and lowering it, ofa combined charging, manipulating and discharging device comprising a rake movable through said opening and over said roll-way, and also over said table, and a movable overhead support from which said device is flexibly suspended, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a pipe-annealing furnace having a charging opening and a hearth extending from said Opening andi forming a roll-way for the pipes, and aloading and unloading table in front of said opening and having means for raising and lowering it, of a combined charging, manipulating and discharging device comprising a rake movable through said opening and over said roll-Way, and also over said table, and a movable overhead support from which said device is flexibly suspended, to gether with a stop means for limiting the movement of said device when the rake is over the hearth and'also when it is over the table, substantially as described.

4. In apparatus for charging and manipulating pipe annealing furnaces, the combination with a combined charging andinanipulating device, of an overhead trolley, said trolley having a hoisting drum, a flexible suspension connection between said drum and said apparatus, the trolley also having a rearward extension and another suspension connection between said extension and the said apparatus, and means for permitting said extension to fold or buckle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

EDGAR E. BROSIUS. 

